City of Calgary asking for public feedback on cannabis legalization

The City of Calgary is asking its residents for feedback on how it should manage cannabis once legalization comes into effect.

With the Federal Government planning on legalizing cannabis by July 2018, that leaves provincial and municipal government mere months to iron out the details on their cannabis-related responsibilities.

The City of Calgary is responsible for the rules, zoning, and land use surrounding retail locations, along with education and laws regarding public consumption.

“While we have to work within the federal legislation and the provincial framework, the information we collect will be very important to the decisions we make around amending bylaws and making sure our regulations reflect areas of local concern,” said Matt Zabloski, the lead on the City’s cannabis legalization project, in a release.

“We have to be ready…”

He said that, depending on decisions made by the Federal and Provincial Governments, Calgary wants to be ready to swiftly implement the proper changes.

“We have to be ready to for whatever decisions the province makes regarding retails sales so we can continue to move toward amending bylaws, training City employees and doing the other work needed to support legalization,” said Zabloski.

Calgarians are encouraged to go to engage.calgary.ca/cannabis and fill out the feedback form to have their say regarding business regulations, retail sales, consumption, and the growing of cannabis.

The form will be available from November 20 to December 10, and the results will impact bylaw amendments that are expected to go into effect by April 2018.